An uphill battle

A&C squad – principally B team players

Sunday saw the A&C U14 B squad take the long drive to Reading Abbey. Abbey are a team we occasionally play, but they’re not one of our regular fixtures. Last time we encountered Abbey, again away, was one of our first fixtures last year as Juniors. That time we managed a convincing win from our As and a more evenly contested match with our Bs. This time we were faced by a physically imposing squad in warm-up, which was probably a sign of what was to come. It would appear that Abbey were fielding many of their A squad, so we knew this was likely to be hard game and so it proved...

Within 5 minutes of KO, Abbey (playing down the slope) were 7-0 ahead, with a kicked A&C clearance intercepted by one of their quick centres. This marked a period of regular tries coming from Abbey, almost every five minutes as their centres and wingers (particularly their right wing) showed pace in getting to the corners. A&C were rocking but they were some immense displays in containing Abbey, including crunching tackles from Jake, Harry B and Jack, with Isaac showing his impressive speed in picking off breakaway Abbey players and preventing almost certain tries. It was nearly a full 20 minutes before we got out of our half, by which time the score has reached 21-0, including a glorious conversion from Abbey from the left touchline. Another score before half time took the score to 26-0, with new A&C players rotated on to try to counter the Abbey domination particularly around rucking and turnover ball.

Despite the break and further A&C rotations, Abbey scored from the restart, with their centre cutting across the A&C line. A&C regrouped and showing more determination started to pressurise Abbey. Strong tackling from Matthew Rutherford, Charlie Barraclough and George Hiscock showed Abbey we were still up for a game, with Devan kicking probing balls to the Abbey corners. Another breakaway Abbey try took the score to 40-0, but A&C continued to press, with better scrummaging and more aggressive rucking now evident. Harry B took a knock to the arm and temporarily retired, with William similarly paying for his probable lack of match fitness with a tweaked knee ligament.

Finally...! Captain Jack scored with a blind-side run into the Abbey right corner from KO and this marked a better period from the boys as they kept the pressure up. However, the Abbey wings were lightening quick and with Isaac off, we had no hope of catching them when they broke away. Another try for Abbey, before Ethan crashed over the line, following 3 consecutive penalties awarded to A&C, that we opted to run from just under the posts. Jack sold a perfect dummy run drawing their defence and Ethan was through. Another breakaway try from the Abbey left wing finished the match, leaving the final score at 54-10 to the hosts.

So...not the performance that we would have wanted, with the opposition perhaps stronger than we had expected. Having said that, the A&C boys kept battling and their heads did not drop, evidenced by the improved performance in the second-half. Thanks to Pete, Anthony and David for their efforts on the day and the A&C parents who made the long journey to support.

Richard Lea